UPDATE 2-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Sept 6

Sept 6 (Reuters) - Britain’s FTSE 100 index is seen opening 27 points lower at 7372.92 on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures down 0.27 percent ahead of the cash market open.

* BERKELEY: British housebuilder Berkeley said on Wednesday that the London property market continued to be hit by uncertainty surrounding Brexit and a property tax hike, but that it was on track to deliver anticipated profit growth.

* SPORTS DIRECT: British retailer Sports Direct said on Wednesday it remained optimistic on its trading outlook, reiterating its earnings guidance for the current year.

* SPORTS DIRECT: Sports Direct’s embattled chairman Keith Hellawell could be forced to honour a pledge to step down on Wednesday if independent shareholders don’t back him at the British retailer’s annual meeting.

* ROYAL MAIL: Britain’s Communications Workers Union (CWU) will ballot more than 100,000 of its members working for Royal Mail Plc over industrial action, it said on Tuesday.

* HSBC: HSBC has reached an agreement to refer some of its Latin American private banking clients, primarily in Central America and the Andean region, to Switzerland’s UBS, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

* ACACIA MINING: Gold miner Acacia, which is locked in a dispute with the Tanzanian government, said it had bought put options covering 210,000 ounces of gold at $1,300 per ounce.

* SOPHOS GROUP: Cloud services and network security company Sophos raised its full-year forecast for the amount it bills its customers to growth of 20 percent, from a previous target of mid to high-teens, citing “strong momentum” over the first quarter.

* VECTURA: Drugmaker Vectura said revenue rose 6 percent in the first half of the year, driven by rising sales of its recently launched inhaled products and the continued weakness of sterling against a basket of its main trading currencies.

* LABOUR MOVEMENT: Britain will end the free movement of labour immediately after Brexit and introduce measures to drive down the number of lower-skilled EU migrants, a leaked government document published by the Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday.

* BREXIT: Britain must seek to protect research funding for its universities when it leaves the European Union or risk losing its leading role in innovation, one of the country’s main employer groups said on Wednesday.

* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.52 percent at 7,372.92 points on Tuesday, as financials fell amid lingering jitters over the North Korean crisis.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets